Shred also makes it easier to permanently delete other common bits of data. You can quickly shred:

• Recent documents list – this is the list of files you've opened and found in the "My Recent Documents" entry in the Start menu.

• Windows temporary files – the temp folder contains installation, scratch, cache, and other files that are temporarily used by programs

• File search history – this stores the files and folders and computers you've searched for using Windows built-in search functionality

• Windows Explorer history – Windows keeps a history of all files you've opened from Windows Explorer

• Start menu run box history – this lists every program or file you've launched from the Run link in the Start menu

• Open/Save dialog history – the standard Windows Open/Save dialog stores all of the files you've recently accessed when you click on the History location

By selecting one or more of these items you can quickly and easily shred the data without going through your file system looking for them.

The data for "File search history," "Windows Explorer history," "Start menu run box history," and "Open/Save dialog history" are all stored in the Windows registry. To eliminate this information, Shred overwrites the values multiple times and then deletes the registry value. However, please note that the changes won't take effect until after you restart your PC.

Cleaning Removable Media Free Space Shred can also shred the free space on removable media like USB flash drives. Simply plug in your flash drive and it will appear in the box on the Shred Misc tab. Select the drive and hit Shred. All of the free clusters on the drive will be shredded. This can really be handy if you previously had sensitive data on the drive but didn't shred it with Shred. All those deleted files that are now free space can be permanently deleted.